Friday, January 06, 2006

Opposite Of T.J.

When I think of new red Sox player J.T. Snow, I think, "Oh, Mr. Dunbar's prospect down at Columbus." Then I realize that was quite some time ago, and that he's 38 years old. But, hey, there's still hope he lives up to that potential I heard so much about 15 years ago.

Also, there's finally an article up at redsox.com about Red Sox and American legend Jim Rice being on the Hall of Fame ballot. (Every MLB site has already had their yearly article on their former player who's on the ballot--even the Rick Aguilera article has appeared on redsox.com already.) This has to be the year for Jim Ed. For those of you who pray to a deity, please put a prayer in for Jim Rice. Face it, your prayers about winning the lottery aren't coming true, so use one for a good cause. No, the ultimate cause. Giving Jim Rice the credit he is due.

I wouldn't vote for Rice. I don't think he's a Hall of Famer by any stretch.

My ballot would be Blyleven, Trammell and Gossage by a hair. To me, the worst HoF exclusion ever is one Mr. Ron Santo, who is one of the 5 or 6 greatest 3B of all time. And he's not in. It's not right.

I think if Rice is going to get in, it will be this year. If not, he's never making it.

I don't know how many of you know this, but his decline in hitting for average was mostly due to his increasingly bad nearsightedness. During the latter stages of his career, he tried all different types of contact lenses, but back then, the soft plastic lenses with high water content that increases comfortability just didn't exist. You give him 20-20 vision, and he continues to hit like a madman, not to mention getting a better jump on the ball in cozy left field at Fenway. I went through the same thing, on a much different scale, with my vision, and it had much to do with eroding my defensive skills in the outfield. Now multiply that by about 1000.